This is why I've always been so resistant to calorie counting. Even if you weigh your food often you don't (or at least I don't) know what goes into it.

I always try to overestimate portion size and underestimate how much I worked out. For example, I know I burn more than 111 calories doing 1 hour of intensive yoga, but I only log what the online calorie counter generates for yoga, which is 111.

Even with all these uncertainties I'm trying to control what I can: which is my grazing. Starting today I've committed to only 3 "bites/licks/tastes" a day, an amount which if left out of my daily calorie counts shouldn't make too much of a difference. Hopefully by making this step I can get closer to having a more accurate calorie count.

Hi everyone!
I feel crummy today. I feel dizzy and even when sitting down the room feels like it's spinning. So I bumped up my daily calorie intake from 1200 to 1400 just to get some more nutrients in...but that doesn't seem to be changing anything. I've been chugging water like a fiend today too. I did exercise just for an hour which is what I usually do, and it kicked in after

I've been hovering around 133 for 2 weeks. Last weekend I went home. My boyfriend and I did a belated valentines day dinner and we went to town. So I've been good this week, except yesterday when I had a frappuccino. Today I was up to 136, so I know it's all water weight and the fact that I haven't officially....gone to the potty...in 3 days, and that TOM is coming this week. BLAH.

As for all of you calorie counting, I feel like sometimes I need to break free from the counting or it really controls a lot. I always underestimate my workouts and overestimate my eating. If I burn 350 calories running and my counter says I only burned 270, I enter in the 270. If I eat something and I don't know what the calories are, I'll search other foods like that, and choose the higher calorie one. I just think it's better to be safe than sorry.

I'm a grazer too, but I can't limit myself to 3 bites per day. That takes a lot of strength, so good for you, indiblue!

Samantha how is your iron and protein intake? Could be one or both of those need upping.

Well, no congrats on the discipline is in order yet I made it yesterday doing pretty well with sticking to no grazing, but we'll see if it continues.

I think I do need to find another way to lose besides calorie counting. I think it's too inaccurate for me.

After steadily overdoing it all weekend and feeling gross and guilty for most of that time, I'm really not sure what to do or think. I'm stuck in a crappy loop where I keep trying to lose, feel awesome when I get into a losing pattern, keep it up for a few days, feel extremely deprived, binge, feel guilty and horrible about binging, and go back to trying to lose again.

I can sense dangerously real depressive feelings knocking around the corner. I am bummed out that I've somehow injured my foot a month before a race I'm supposed to run. Not being able to run makes me feel flabby and like my legs are getting all squishy again. I also have some minor relationship stress - I have no sex drive (probably because I keep sabotaging my dieting) and my moods are all wacky (probably for the same reason) and while bf deals with it well I can sense he's disappointed that our (limited) time together isn't as fun as it could be.

I don't know what to do. I really feel like dieting is ruining my life. I can't "give up" because if I just let myself have what I want, I will eat somewhere between 2500-4000 calories a day because I have a huge appetite. I can't forget or force myself not to think about calories because I already know how many calories are in everything. I can't stomach the idea of throwing out my scale either, and that's probably not a good idea anyway.

Sorry for the blahface post. I'm just frustrated that I can't not obsess.

Ugh, I totally know what you mean. I have the inner battle of "Do I really care if i'm fat if I can have what I want?" ALL THE TIME. In the end, I care but I still want a donut.

sooo...I ended up binging BIG TIME yesterday and today. I don't even want to say what I've eaten.

But now I'm sitting here with a huge headache from all of the sugar. My attention has gone to crap too, and I have three tests to study for!! I'm giving myself until 4 to digest and then I am going to the gym for 2 hours. I'm not working out for 2 hours to work off my mistakes...what's done is done. I'm doing it to burn off all of this sugar so I can drink tons of water and ease my headache and literal crummy feeling.

I'll just say that some girl scout cookies were involved. I recently got my boyfriend's mom to buy me 4 boxes. I'm bagging each of them as soon as I get them so if I eat some, it's only the appropriate serving and it's all in that one bag or nothing. Moderation is a pain, but clearly it's needed.

Krampus- that's me down to a T. I'll go a week feeling great and eating healthy and all of that, and then BOOM. one binge and I'm off the wagon. I don't know what causes me to binge, but it's gotta stop!!
It's great eating what I want, but I definitely do not physically feel well when I do it. Shouldn't that be motivation enough to be healthy??

This thread is getting more and more disheartening. Hold on, girls -- we can do this. We can. Back in the saddle, everyone... these are probably just end-of-winter blues, and spring with its light salads and tons of outdoorsy activities is just around the corner. We can do this.

Thanks lackadaisy. I posted my rant in the "Get me out of the 130's" thread, but yeah, I feel a little down about this whole weight loss thing too.

I haven't seen the scale move in 2 weeks, unless you count going UP from 138.6 to 139.4. And I've been pretty good about things...maybe I'll see a whoosh soon, but I am not getting my hopes up. I look back at my track record and don't even feel like I am losing weight. I mean, it took me from basically Halloween until now to lose the last 5 lbs. And I've been hungry and dizzy lately which isn't helping me want to cut back my calories more.

I guess I just need to track better. Try to get some running in now that I am finally breathing okay from cold #2 of the winter. try to keep positive.

lackadaisy that's a really good point- winter causes weight gain and depression, and everything- binges, weight gain, etc- seems worse when it's dark and cold outside. Thanks for the reminder!

I FINALLY saw the scale move to 130.2 yesterday. I kicked a few things into high gear: NO GRAZING and VERY small portion sizes. I was extremely careful about where my calories came.

I'm also shifting my "big" meal of the day from dinner to lunch. Between 2 and 6 PM is when hunger from my morning workout kicks in and makes me most likely to graze, so I think a higher-fat/higher-calorie lunch will help this. Ended up not full by the end of the day but not hungry. This is what made me accidentally drop 2 pounds last year over the course of a month, so we'll see if I can make it work again.

Seeing a smaller number is even more motivation for today. Hopefully this loss will continue. I'll also keep fingers crossed for all of you that all the hard work pays off!

Awesome job, indiblue!

I'm so stressed out about my thesis right now that it's like I can't even be bothered to stress about weight loss. Which ironically seems to be going better as a result...

My self-control over spending calories has gotten better and my control over dollars... has not. Just spent hundreds this last three weeks on a combination of workout clothes and shoes, books, scales, protein bars... all these "getting fit" and "finally writing my thesis" stuff + not having time to work = financial horror. Ah well, only two weeks until this is all over, three weeks until I'm back from spring break and employable once again

Just wanted to mention two new loves: a mini 1 lb food scale I finally splurged on ($18) by Polder (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002EXVH8) and the best rice crackers ever by Suzie's ($3?). They're 3 pretty large whole grain, fat&sugar-free crackers (abt length/width of a bagel, 1/4 inch thick) for 59 calories if rice, wheat, or spelt/flax, even fewer if quinoa/sesame. Perfect for staying low-carb because they're crunchy, flavorful, & sturdy enough for a "base" for any sort of topping -- I had two with protein toppings today (eggs/beans, and salmon) for breakfast and can imagine eating the rest with anything. And they def kill the bread cravings.

Happy sleep-deprived Monday to everyone! I'm going to try to be online a bit less and churn out some thesis, and maybe, maybe go for a quick jog later. Hope everyone has a great, on-plan day.

Oo lackadaisy those crackers sound delicious! I love spelt/flax/sesame, all those yummy grains.

I am about to order a food scale too- do you like yours?

Don't you have a job lined up after school? I feel like I read that somewhere in another thread. If I were you I wouldn't stress about $300 spent on workout clothes during a stressful time- I'd kick back and enjoy it

--

Guys guess what. I BROKE MY PLATEAU! AND AM NOW IN THE 120s!!! wheeeee! My 3 reports I'm writing as a consultant for my old employer are due today too, so tomorrow I may or may not spend a lot of money on clothes and nails hahah. wheeee!

indiblue, first off, CONGRATS on breaking through the plateau! It's great to see you bust through after struggling for so long, not because of a "refeed" or other suspect activity, but just honestly counting your calories better. I think that's what works for me, too.

If you knew the ratio of how quickly I can spend money to how much savings I have, you wouldn't be encouraging me to spend. I do have a job lined up, but that won't kick in until August, so I'm definitely exhausting my savings a bit faster than I'd like. Ah well, it's definitely a low-level stressor (about 1/100th of, say, the thesis). I haven't used the food scale long enough to know if I love it yet, but I will definitely let you know.

CONGRATS!!!

Yep, lackadaisy it was just a matter of getting super accountable and super strict about counting calories. Also super careful about where I was spending calories. I needed to take ownership and really kick things up a notch. And it worked.

Hopefully I'll be able to continue the losing streak today. Next stop: really focus on vitamins and minerals. It's *so* hard getting them here in India- no health food stores or anything. That's ok though- nose to the grindstone and I'll figure out a way! I think I'm going to start making homemade black bean veggie burgers at home...

Oh gosh, vitamins... I should really start taking a pill, as I haven't eaten real citrus in a lot longer than I want to admit. I used to be a glass-of-orange-juice-a-day kind of girl, and while that's definitely coming back in maintenance, I can't quite "afford" it now. Have you tried ordering multivitamins online? I don't know what the best place to do that would be, but I'm sure SOMEONE has to sell/ship them in the country.